The Perils of Translating Via a Third Language

Earliest version was 2003 (undated)

The conference on 'International Cooperation for Tourism Development Under
a New Paradigm - Revitalizing Asian Tourism' held in Hong Kong on 14-15 July
2003 was a great success according to all who attended. The conference was
organised by the Boao
Forum for Asia and the World Tourism
Organisation, under the auspices of the government of Hong
Kong.

Hong Kong reportedly spent an enormous amount on the conference, which was
just a small part of a program to revive tourism following SARS. The venue
was the magnificent Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre jutting into and overlooking the harbour at Wan Chai.
The organisation was excellent and the dinner thrown by the Hong Kong government,
in particular, was a grand affair which could not be faulted in any way.

More the pity that the conference was marred by incredibly poor interpreting.
The organisers had arranged for interpreting into English, Chinese, Cantonese,
Japanese, and Russian. I can't speak for the Cantonese or the Russian, but
the Japanese interpreting was absolutely appalling. A major speech by former
New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley was so badly mangled that two-thirds
of the content was omitted in the Japanese interpreting, leaving the Japanese
delegation completely nonplussed as to its meaning.

The English translation of a speech delivered in Japanese by former Japanese
Transport Minister Toshihiro Nikai was read out verbatim from a translated
handout, although I was told that the speech as delivered contained last-minute
changes not included in the handout.

To give an idea of the rather idiosyncratic interpreting at this conference,
take these four examples that I noticed, mostly from the speech by the vice
president of the Canadian Tourism Commission, Thomas
Penney.

What the English said

The Japanese translation

What the Japanese translation actually meant

Tourism Ministers

kankō buchō

'heads of tourism departments/sections'

6 million dollars

roppyaku man gen

'6 million yuan'

tourism

ryoyū

?

CEOs

gyōsei kankei no shokuin

'staff for administrative matters'

The reason for these peculiar errors lies in the interpreting arrangements.
Translation between Japanese and English was exclusively via Chinese.
In other words, when a speech was given in English, a Chinese interpreter first
translated it into Chinese, and it was then translated into Japanese by a different
Chinese interpreter! Let us look at these mistakes more closely.

Tourism Minister

The correct translations of English 'tourism minister' are as follows:

English

Chinese

Japanese

Tourism minister

Guānguāngbùzhǎng

Kankō daijin

What led to the incorrect version we saw above?

The interpreters have translated the English word 'minister'
into the Chinese equivalent bùzhǎng.
The problem lies in a peculiar phenomenon of Sino-Japanese linguistics. The
Chinese word bùzhǎng means
'government minister'. The Japanese word buchō,
written with the same characters, means 'director of a department or section
(within a ministry or organisation)', a much humbler rank. Strictly speaking,
the Japanese equivalent to the Chinese bùzhǎng is daijin.
However, Chinese characters tend to be regarded as sacrosanct -- they cannot
be changed or modified without good reason. So instead of calling Chinese
government ministers daijin,
which is what they really are, Japanese speakers, especially those who have
a lot to do with China, generally use the Chinese term without change and
call them buchō.
Although a potential cause of confusion, this usage is accepted and understood
by Japanese who have dealings with China1.

It is, however, a peculiarity to be found only in a Sino-Japanese context.
Under no circumstances should it be extended to people of ministerial rank
from other countries. When speaking of the Tourism Minister of Vanuatu, for
instance, the correct Japanese term is daijin,
not the Sino-Japanese term buchō,
which demotes the Minister to the head of a mere section within his own ministry.
This was the mistake committed by these interpreters from Beijing, who obviously
had insufficient knowledge or experience to outfit them for anything but
strictly bilateral Sino-Japanese interpreting.

Canadian dollars

The correct equivalents are as follows:

English

Chinese

Japanese

Canadian dollars

Jiānádà yuán

Kanada doru

How did the interpreters manage to transform 'Canadian dollars' into 'yuan'?
The problem here is the naming of currencies. For instance, look at the following
currency names in English, Chinese, and Japanese:

English

Chinese

Japanese

dollar (US)

, Měi-yuán, Měi-jīn

Bei-doru

Canadian dollar

Jiānádà yuán

Kanada doru

Hong Kong dollar

Gǎng-bì

Honkon doru

Singapore dollar

Xīnjiāpō yuán

Shingapōru doru

Australian dollar

Aòdàlìyàyuán

ōsutoraria doru

New Zealand dollar

Xīnxīlán yuán

Nyūjiirando doru

yuan (RMB)

, Rénmínbì, yuán

, Jinmingen, gen

pound sterling

Yīng-bàng

Igirisu pondo

Korean won

Hán-yuán

Kankoku uon

Japanese yen

Rì-yuán

Nihon en

English has specific names for currencies, which are largely followed by
the Japanese. Chinese does to some extent, too. However, more than is even
apparent from this list, Chinese terms like yuán and bì are
generic names used for almost any kind of currency. Differentiation is achieved
by adding the country name.

When the Canadian speaker mentioned 'dollars', the Chinese interpreters
presumably translated it as Jiānádà yuán.
The Sino-Japanese interpreters, unused to contexts other than Japanese yen
or Renminbi yuan, must then have translated yuán as gen,
a term used in Japanese exclusively for the Chinese Renminbi! The correct
translation in the circumstances was Kanada
doru.

Tourism

Some general translations of English 'tourism' / 'sightseeing' are as follows:

English

Chinese

Japanese

Tourism

lǚxíng
'travel' lǚyóu
'tourism'guān guāng
'sightseeing'

ryokō
'travel'kankō
'sightseeing'kankō
ryokō'sightseeing travel'

A correct Japanese translation would use only the words in the right-hand
column. However, the Chinese translators constantly used the word ryoyū in
Japanese. The problem is that the word ryoyū does not
exist in Japanese.

What we have here is a case of contamination. The Chinese word lǚyóu is
an abbreviation of lǚxíng yóulǎn ('travel'
+ 'sightseeing'). In Japanese, would
be read ryoyū. However, ryoyū is
encountered in Japanese only when rendering the names of the Chinese tourism
bureaus, lǚyóu-jú (ryoyū
kyoku). To inject this purely Chinese word into a general Japanese
translation is jarring and unprofessional. Many Japanese will understand
it, but it will sound as though someone is guessing at a Japanese word but
getting it wrong.

CEO

The exact path leading to this mistranslation is not completely clear as
I did not hear the Chinese translation at this point. The main standard Chinese
translations for CEO are shown below. Japanese uses the English term 'CEO':

Other Chinese terms may also be found:xíngzhèng zǒngcái, xíngzhèng zhíxíng zǒngcái, shǒuxí zhíxíngzhǎng,
and xíngzhèng shǒuxí zhíxíngguān.
The word for 'executive' is particularly difficult to translate into Chinese,
being often rendered as xíngzhèng (administrative)
or zhíxíng (implementing). (That is why the prestige 'Executive floors' in many hotels become 'Administrative floors' in Chinese!)

In this case it is reasonable to assume that the Chinese interpreters translated
CEO into something involving xíngzhèng ('administration').
When literally translated into Japanese, the CEO was dramatically transformed
into a 'staff member for administrative matters'! Had the translation been
direct from English to Japanese, this mistake would not have occurred --
'CEO' would have remained 'CEO', a position well understood by the Japanese
without being translated.

In these cases, a major sticking point is Chinese characters,
which interfere in subtle and not-so-subtle ways with the mechanics of translation.
A major fault of Chinese-Japanese interpreters is the habit of faithfully transferring
characters from one language to the other rather than translating the actual
meaning, resulting in a strange sinified Japanese. Many of these hybridised
forms have become institutionalised in translation and interpreting circles,
to the extent that translators seem unaware that they are even using strange
Japanese2.

Another related problem is that many Chinese interpreters into Japanese are
extremely weak in English, a language which has contributed such a large part
of the modern Japanese vocabulary. This means that, when confronted with the
Chinese translation of 'CEO', for instance, most Chinese translators are unable
to come up with the correct English form, substituting outlandish direct translations
instead.

What is mystifying in this particular case is why such inappropriate interpreting
arrangements were made. Japan has a large pool of top-notch English-Japanese
interpreters who could have sailed through the speeches and panel discussions
with ease. But rather than hiring such interpreters the organisers preferred
to bring Chinese-Japanese interpreters from Beijing. One can only speculate
why, but two factors spring to mind:

1. The high cost of Japanese interpreters, whose fees start at JPY 80,000
(pushing US$700) a day. If this is the case, the organisers were indulging
in false economy. The cost of providing decent interpreting would have been
totally insignificant against the cost of the conference as a whole. For
a few thousand extra dollars, the conference would have been considerably
more worthwhile for some of its important participants. (One other possibility, which is depressingly likely to be true in China, is that the organisers felt that there was no need to make 'special arrangments' for the Japanese).

2. The Boao Forum's rather peculiar adoption of two
official languages, English and Chinese. Assumedly, this is for
practical administrative reasons, namely, the fact that the Boao Forum for
Asia is effectively based in Beijing (and not Boao as it pretends to be). There is no other reason for having
Chinese as an official language when English, not Chinese, is the only common
language shared throughout the area covered by the Boao Forum.

The question of 'official languages' is important for interpreting. In interpreting
among a large number of languages, one language must be chosen as a 'pivot'3;
otherwise interpreters must be found for each and every set of languages,
from English-Chinese, Chinese-Japanese, right down to Cantonese-Russian.
The problem is the choice of pivot. Most speeches at the Hong Kong conference
were in English, not Chinese. China (for some reason) sent a far less powerful
delegation than Japan. It would therefore have made sense to use English
as the sole pivot. The choice of Chinese was presumably based on the proud
logic that, being one of the official languages, Chinese was just as valid
a pivot as English! There is, indeed, a detectable tendency for the Forum staff to see the Boao Forum as 'belonging' to China.

The reality is probably somewhat more complicated than this (as are many things
in China) but the result of this decision was unfortunately not befitting an
international conference of this size and quality. One can only hope that in
future the Boao Forum for Asia will transcend the limitations of its Beijing
location and secure interpreting services of an international standard.

1. In general, Chinese-character
using countries adopt the usage of the country in question. Thus, Chinese speakers
quickly and easily adopt Japanese terminology when talking about Japan. This
phenomenon can be seen in many areas, but a few examples from the political
arena will give an idea.

Word

Country

Chinese name

Japanese name

Note

Ministry / Department

China

bù

bu

Japan follows Chinese usage

Japan

shěng

shō

China follows Japanese usage

UK, Australia, etc.

bù

shō

Both Japan and China follow their own normal domestic usage

Foreign Ministry

China

wài-jiāo-bù

gaikō-bu

Japan follows Chinese usage

Japan

wài-wù-shěng

gaimu-shō

China follows Japanese usage

UK, Australia, etc.

wài-jiāo-bù

gaimu-shō

Both Japan and China follow their own normal domestic usage

President

US

() zǒng-tǒng

daitōryō

Both Japan and China follow their own domestic usage

Taiwan

() zǒng-tǒng

sōtō

Japan follows Chinese usage

Note that the North Korean Foreign Ministry is known as the in
that country and it is thus known as the wàiwùshěng in
Chinese. However, exceptions are not uncommon, e.g., the Chinese Foreign Ministry
is often referred to as the Chinese gaimu-shō (not gaikǒ-bu)
in Japanese.

2. Perhaps the most egregious
example of this is the word for 'cooperation'. In normal Japanese
this is kyōryoku.
However, the strange dialect of Sino-Japanese interpreters uses the word gassaku (as
in Nitchū
gassaku 'Sino-Japanese cooperation'). This is based on the Chinese word hézuò 'cooperation'.
Unfortunately, in normal Japanese, gassaku is
used only in the sense of 'co-production' (as in movie co-production). It does
not mean 'cooperation' in the Chinese sense.

3. Instead of 'pivot' I originally used 'hub' or 'anchor', but changed it to 'pivot' in the light of comments at this site.

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